Office fruit box news:

Mini watermelons around the size of a grapefruit have gone on sale in UK supermarkets.

Brazilian grower and exporter Itaueira is currently trialling the new variety of fruit, and selected Waitrose stores have been receiving several pallets a week between them, fresh info reports.

The fruits weigh only two to three kilograms and are the result of growers cross-breeding qualities which occur naturally in different varieties of watermelon.

It is hoped the smaller watermelons may appeal to shoppers who enjoy the fruit but often do not want to purchase a whole watermelon, which weigh on average ten to 15 kilograms.

Export manager Adriana Prado told freshinfo: "The trial is going very well and Waitrose wants more but we only have one hectare a week to offer at the moment."

Ms Prado added that by September, Itaueira will be able to send 3,000 boxes a week, but until then it will be a very niche offer.

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Office Fruit Blog-2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.